Electromagnetism news

HJ Melosh of Purdue University has written a paper on impact cratering - and the role of shocked quartz in determining if a meteor was involved, or not. He centres his research on shock metamorphosed minerals, such as quartz, which is thought to be a key signature of extraterrestrial impact events. Shcoked quartz, it seems, can also be created by lightning. See http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL074840/epdf

Solar cycle 24 has been relatively quiet for the last few weeks but a huge coronal hole has opened up over the last few days - see www.spaceweather.com July 11th. The weather is already warm. Is it about to get warmer over Europe and North America? An interesting post on this subject is at https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/07/05/the-solar-harbinger/ .. which is a guest post by David Archibald, one of the people who think a lack of sun spots is going to result in a cooling of the earth system.

At www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2017/06/19/history-of-electric-comet-theory-an-... ... by Hannes Tager, is an enlightening piece of research as it lists a number of scientists that in the 17th and 18th centuries were theorising about electricity in the solar system and its bodies. These include William Gilbert (1544-1603), Otto von Guericke (1602-1686), Thomas Gray (who died in 1736) and Hugh Hamilton (1727-1805). The latter was a mathematician, natural philosopher, and at the same time a Church of Ireland Bishop of Ossory in Dublin.

William forwarded this back in October 2016 - a link to a book at www.mikamar.biz/book-info/tes-a.htm#Author ... which provides some history concerning Hannes Alfven, and his book, 'Cosmic Plasma' - published in 1981 but largely ignored by astrophysicists. However, the electric universe people have gone back to basics - resurrecting some of Alfven's ideas (and science).Hannes Alfven, and his book, 'Cosmic Plasma' - published in 1981 but largely ignored by astrophysicists.

It's the19th of May and we are told at www.spaceweather.com that Earth is the path of a plasma stream emanating from a coronal hole - striking the upper atmosphere today and tomorrow. Auroras are expected in high latitudes.

Robert Maglione has written a book, 'The Legendary Shamir' which should interest various members of SIS as the question of what was shamir has cropped up on several occasions over the last 30 years. It is 416 pages long and has 8 colour plates, 51 figures, and 9 tables. The author has investigated the possible sources of radioactivity used by Moses, and then by Joshua, during the wandering of the Hebrews in the desert, and has found it in the legendary Shamir, presumably some kind of stone but just the size of a barleycorn.

At https://malagabay.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/indian-impacts-hammerhead-geo... ... which is a great post by Louis Hissink, an unconventional geologist from Australia. He begins by quoting Fred Hoyle who said that one of the reasons scientific problems persist was because scientists involved tend to think with one or two ideas, which infers the possibility of getting at the truth was limited.